[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 508 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 508
Supporting the goals and ideals of International Day for the Abolition
of Slavery, recognizing the tenth anniversary of the adoption by the
United Nations of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,
and commending the efforts of modern day abolitionists following in the
tradition of Frederick Douglass.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 20, 2011
Ms. Richardson (for herself, Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas, Mr. Conyers, Ms.
Clarke of New York, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Meeks, Mrs. Christensen, Ms.
Norton, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Rush, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Towns, Ms.
Moore, and Ms. Lee of California) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the goals and ideals of International Day for the Abolition
of Slavery, recognizing the tenth anniversary of the adoption by the
United Nations of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,
and commending the efforts of modern day abolitionists following in the
tradition of Frederick Douglass.
Whereas 61 years ago the international community, acting through the United
Nations, affirmed its opposition to modern-day slavery and human
trafficking, expressed its resolve to combat this evil, and proclaimed
December 2 as ``International Day for the Abolition of Slavery'';
Whereas 10 years ago the international community, acting through the United
Nations, adopted a modern-day-slavery-based tool to combat human
trafficking, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, creating the modern
``3P'' approach of fighting servitude through prevention, protection,
and prosecution;
Whereas the international community has also adopted, and the United States has
also ratified, other instruments to combat the trafficking in persons
and modern-day slavery, including the International Labor Organization
Convention 182, Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography, Optional Protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child in Armed Conflict, International Labor
Organization Convention 29, Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, and
International Labor Organization Convention 105, Concerning the
Abolition of Forced Labour;
Whereas despite the efforts of governments and nongovernmental organizations,
including but not limited to, Human Rights Watch, Global Rights, the
Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, Safe Horizon, Freedom
Network, United and its partners in the Alliance to End Slavery and
Trafficking, the Polaris Project, and the Frederick Douglass Family
Foundation, to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking, the problem
persists and manifests itself in the modern era, whether termed modern-
day slavery, forced labor, involuntary domestic servitude, sex
trafficking, child sex trafficking, bonded labor, forced child labor,
child soldiers, or debt bondage among migrant laborers;
Whereas the International Labor Organization estimates that at any given time at
least 12,300,000 adults and children live in conditions of forced labor
and sexual servitude and that at least 1,390,000 persons are victims of
national and transnational sex trafficking;
Whereas it is estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 victims are moved
across international borders every year and subjected to compelled
service and millions more are enslaved domestically within their own
countries;
Whereas according to the 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United
States Department of State, each year an estimated 14,500 to 17,500
foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States with the largest
number of people trafficked into the United States coming from East Asia
and the Pacific and the next highest numbers coming from Latin America,
Europe, and Eurasia;
Whereas these numbers pale in comparison to the number of persons subjected to
bondage within the United States each year, with an estimated 200,000
children in the United States at risk for trafficking into the sex
industry;
Whereas 56 percent of victims of modern-day slavery are women and children
because traffickers prey on those who suffer most from gender
discrimination, family violence, and a lack of access to education and
economic opportunity;
Whereas human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in
the 21st century generating profits for traffickers in excess of
$30,000,000,000 according to the International Labor Organization,
ranking with drug smuggling and arms dealing in organized crime
activities;
Whereas as the 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United States
Department of State indicates, human trafficking is a multidimensional
threat in that it deprives people of their human rights and freedoms,
increases global health risks, and fuels the growth of organized crime;
and
Whereas there remains a stark disparity between the large global problem of
trafficking in persons and the low numbers of prosecutions and
convictions of forced labor trafficking crimes, which accounted for less
than 3 percent of all convictions worldwide in 2009: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports the goals and ideals of International Day for
the Abolition of Slavery;
(2) recognizes the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime;
(3) encourages member states of the United Nations and
international organizations to devote additional resources to
apprehend, prosecute, and punish persons engaged in human
trafficking and to detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminal
enterprises organized for that purpose;
(4) urges all members of the international community to
commemorate the 10th year of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime by redoubling their efforts and
renewing their resolve to eradicating the modern-day slavery
crisis of trafficking in persons from the face of the Earth;
(5) encourages the people of the United States to observe
the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery by
participating in activities designed to heighten public
awareness of the prevalence of human trafficking; and
(6) commends the efforts of domestic and international
nongovernmental organizations to expose, prevent, and document
all forms of modern-day slavery and human trafficking and to
assist victims reintegrate into society and notes that such
efforts honor the legacy and follow in the tradition of
Frederick Douglass and other great abolitionists of the 19th
century who devoted their lives to the struggle for freedom,
human dignity, and the full measure of civil and human rights
for all men and women.
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